A Micro-Blog from Swami Vimokshananda – earlier at Durban, Singapore and Dublin – now at Yelagiri Hills, Tamil Nadu, India – "A private diary for public consumption!"
The 614th Birthday of Sri Chaitanya Deva was celebrated at Eire Vedanta Society (EVS) on Dol Jatra day which fell on Thursday 21st March 2019. A beautiful picture of Sri Chaitanya Deva holding a rosary signifying chanting of Sri Krishna’s holy name was kept at the altar for the first time. Devotees brought suitable offerings which were distributed as Prasad to all. 22 people attended the function.
Swami Purnananda performed the vesper service to Sri Ramakrishna amidst singing of “Khandana…” by the Ramakrishna Choir led by Jhuma Majumdar. While Prithwish Majumdar played the Tabla, Hariharan accompanied on Kanjira.
The evening was a moment of great joy when devotees enthusiastically sang a myriad of Sri Krishna bhajans. A few bhajans were led by Sharanya Bharathwaj and Malabika Basu.
Swami Vimokshananda, in his discourse on the Life and Teachings of Sri Chaitanya Deva, traced the incident of his being given an uncommon name after his birth and how even at the young age he renounced name and fame just for his older friend Raghunath by throwing away all his superb writings on Logic in the Ganges.
Swami Vimokshananda also retold the story of Jagai and Madhai and how these two bad elements of society completely turned over a new leaf as servants of society through the holy company of Sri Chaitanya. Chaitanya‘s infinite compassion healed a leper. His untiring travels to South of India spread the Maha mantra among all classes of people irrespective of caste or creed. He brought millions of people into his bhakti fold.
Supta Ghosh read out the only written short work of Chaitanya Deva available today called Shiksha Ashtakam – an eight verse instructional hymn. Devotees finally offered colourful Abir to Lord Chaitanya.
Later they prostrated to both the monks of the EVS offered Abir.
A few snaps of the function here below in a slideshow:
March 17 is an important Festival Day in the whole of Ireland. It is celebrated as St Patrick Day. He is the Patron Saint of Ireland. Apart from the associated mirth and colour that take many diverse forms including the unmanageable consumption of drinks and dancing, the life and teachings of St Patrick have inspired people for years and years. His belief in God the Lord was not just a statement but born out of deep conviction. The conviction, in turn, was born of his realisation. He saw God face to face as it were and he was transformed into a magnet to which millions of people were attracted to.
I had no idea about this great Saint before I was posted to Ireland. Once it was decided that I would be moving to Ireland which was for a long time, dearest in my heart due to its being the birth country of our Sister Nivedita (Margaret Elizabeth Noble), I started to read about Ireland. I came to know that this country was famous for its ‘Saints and Scholars’. Then I read about the Patron Saint Patrick who is lovingly called by people as St Paddy.
Recently when I was glancing through books in a book store by name Veritas in Dublin City, brother Swami Purnananda asked what I was looking for. I said I was on the lookout for a short account of St Patrick and he immediately picked up a book “Patrick in his own words” by Joseph Duffy and presented it to me saying ‘with my compliments!’ The book was unputdownable, to say the least! Plenty of inspiring things about St Patrick! His strong conviction that ‘nothing was impossible for God’ kept my attention on and made me compare to the parable of Bhagawan Sri Ramakrishna where the devotee on hearing that Lord was trying to send a mammoth elephant through the eye of a needle exclaimed ‘Oh that was simple! Because nothing was impossible for God!”
Latu Maharaj [later Swami Adbhutananda] was extremely fortunate that he got the opportunity to live with Ramakrishna and serve him for over six years. Sri Ramakrishna taught Latu various spiritual disciplines. One day while Latu was massaging Ramakrishna’s feet, the Master asked, “Do you know what your Lord Rama is doing now?” Latu was dumbfounded and kept quiet. The Master said, “Your Lord Rama is now passing an elephant through the eye of a needle.” Latu understood that Ramakrishna, out of compassion, was pouring spirituality into him.
An incident that proved St Patrick’s conviction is worth reproducing here: “After three days we reached land, and then for twenty-eight days we journeyed through an uninhabited country. The food ran out and hunger overtook us. One day the steersman said to me, “Why are we hungry, Christian? You say your God is great and all-powerful, then why can you not pray for us? Otherwise, we may perish of hunger.” I said to them confidently, “Be converted by faith with all your heart to my Lord God, because nothing is impossible for him and everywhere he abounds. Today he will send you food on your road until you are full.” And with God’s help, this came to pass. A herd of swine appeared on the road before our eyes, and they slew many of them. We remained there for two nights, and the men were full of meat and well restored; whereas before this many of them had fainted and would otherwise have been left half dead by the wayside. After this, they gave the utmost thanks to God, and I was highly esteemed in their eyes, and from that day on they had food abundantly. On the journey, God provided us with food and fire and dry weather every day until on the tenth day we came upon people.”
The Éire Vedanta Society here in Dublin celebrated the Day with due solemnity. In an evening function, the star of the function was Arka Chatterjee (15) who played violin instrument to the delight of the assembled devotees. He played a few Irish tunes admirably well. Sindhu Menon sang a sweet Krishna bhajan in Tamil mellifluously. Jayita sang with emotion a few Bengali bhajans on Sri Ramakrishna. The welcome speech was given by Swami Purnananda while the closing thanks speech was given by Swami Vimokshananda.
The 184th Birthday of Bhagawan Sri Ramakrishna was celebrated on 10 March 2019 at Eire Vedanta Society, Dublin in Ireland.
The programme began with a Puja of Sri Ramakrishna by Swami Vimokshananda assisted by Swami Purnananda. The little boy Advaith surprised everybody by appearing in the make-up of Swami Vivekananda and retold the thrilling words of Swami Vivekananda from his Chicago Addresses.
Basil Conroy did the Readings from the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. The portion highlighted the child-like mood of Sri Ramakrishna that brought the occasion so much merriment. The children from the John Scottus School of Dublin chanted Vedic Peace Prayers followed by a few verses from Srimad Bhagavad Gita. The audience delighted at the diction of the Indian and Irish children who pronounced the Sanskrit lines remarkably.
Tapas Chatterjee read out from the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna – the part where Thakur was making fun of ‘M’ when he had come to visit Thakur; Thakur was addressing Swamiji and other young monks and gave the example of the peacock. Rai Kamal read out a portion of ‘The Great Master’, vol 2 – the chapter on Spiritual Teachings by the Master; section 21 to 23 – where Thakur gave examples to Swami Brahmananda about the Tamasic qualities of certain people who wanted to meet Thakur, and Thakur’s advice to stay away from them. Another section talked about how Swami Vivekananda would bring his like-minded friends to meet Thakur. Sudipto sang in his mellifluous voice a few solo bhajans.
Jeff Delmar sang a song “Shepherd Boy” in an Irish famous tune, the poem that Swami Brahmananda Ji, a Direct Disciple of Sri Ramakrishna rendered during his last days. The children from Sanatana Ireland did many charming bhajans on Ganesha, Krishna and Shiva. Lucy, a daughter of Paul Hipwell played Cello instrument to the delight of the devotees. The Chai & Chant Group from Dublin performed several bhajans that brought exuberance among the listeners. The newcomer Hariharan of the Sanatana Ireland played dholak admirably.
The programme came to an end with a chorus singing of “Ramakrishna sharanam…” led by the Ramakrishna Choir, followed by Bhogarati and Pushapanjali and Prasad distribution. Earlier Swami Vimokshananda spoke on the importance of the holy occasion. He thanked on behalf of Eire Vedanta Society all those volunteers who supported mentally and assisted with donations and labour of love (tan, man, dhan – as he put it) for the success of the function.
On the invitation of the Indian Community Centre (ICC) of Belfast, the two Swamis – Purnananda and Vimokshananda of the Eire Vedanta Society, Dublin – attended the Maha Shivaratri Festival there on the evening of Monday, the 4th March 2019. The two-hour drive was simply charming with scenic features!
The ICC Committee members warmly welcomed and requested the Swamis to speak too. Swami Purnananda stressed the importance of holding such auspicious functions and offered the services of EVS to the Community. He also introduced Swami Vimokshananda to the audience. Swami Vimokshananda later spoke on the expansion of heart by re-telling the story as told by Swami Vivekananda at the entrance of Rameshwaram Temple in 1897.
A few devotees sang bhajans too. The officiating Priest honoured the Swamis by giving the Swamis the first place in conducting abhishekams to the large Shiva Linga kept on the altar. Mr Bharat, one of the Directors of ICC requested the EVS to visit Belfast and conduct some regular classes on Meditation etc.
The 157th Jayanti day of Swami Vivekananda was observed recently in a grand scale in India and elsewhere. While perusing the ‘global medley’ of photos that were constantly pouring in at my WhatsApp on that day, I was thrilled to notice the surging enthusiasm of the people all over the world irrespective of caste or creed, race or religion. Here is a personality that can be truly called Universal.
On Sunday the 27th of January, the Éire Vedanta Society (EVS) celebrated Swami Vivekananda’s Jayanti at its Dublin Centre. The programme included a ritualistic puja by Swami Vimokshananda, talks by Swami Purnananda, melodious bhajan singing by a group of adult devotees, hymnal chanting and singing of short songs by the children of Sanatana Ireland and readings of poems and reflections by several devotees and finally bhogarati followed by prasad distribution!
The multi-faceted qualities that Swamiji possessed included his deep interest in classical music like dhrupad, khyal etc is well known to everyone. He was also good at playing musical instruments like pakhawaj, tabla, violin, tambura etc. One music artiste Ashish Dha, specializing in Nadayoga in Dublin paid homage to Swamiji by singing the morning raaga Miyan ki Todi. He also played dhrupad and a little khyal to the delight of devotees in an Irish instrument Hammered Dulcimer somewhat likened to the Indian santoor. He charmed the assembled children by singing an English funny song playing with his guitar! A grand birthday cake was also offered lovingly by the children while singing the beautiful song “janmadinamidam…” in a chorus. About 50 people attended the function.
For EVS, this fledgling centre, this is the very first tithi-puja celebration. There was all around joy among the visitors. The reason was obvious: That Swamiji was the Guru of Ireland’s daughter Margaret Noble! It was Swamiji who gave the delectable name of ‘Nivedita‘ to this dedicated lady from the West. Even after a distance of a hundred years of Sister’s writings and speeches, when one goes through them afresh today, one is unmistakably inspired by Swamiji‘s broadness and inclusiveness of all faiths and beliefs. In her representation of Swamiji, He shone as broad as the sky and as deep as the ocean.
His was a mission tirelessly telling everyone that Divinity is within and to manifest in everyday life must be set as the goal. And he inspires men, women and children everywhere with his clarion call to stop not till one reaches the goal.
A few snaps of the Dublin Centre celebrating Swamiji‘s birthday:
The 614th Birthday of Sri Chaitanya Deva was celebrated at Eire Vedanta Society (EVS) on Dol Jatra day which fell on Thursday 21st March 2019. A beautiful picture of Sri Chaitanya Deva holding a rosary signifying chanting of Sri Krishna’s holy name was kept at the altar for the first time. Devotees brought suitable offerings which were distributed as Prasad to all. 22 people attended the function.
Vedanta in Practice 